East Central Community College freshman outfielder Jesse Boydstun was selected the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges Baseball Player of the Week for games played March 2-8.
The product of Winston Academy in Louisville helped the Warriors to a 2-2 week by hitting .692 with nine hits in 13 official at-bats. He had three doubles, one home run, five RBI, and scored five runs. He also had a stolen base.
Boydstun collected at least two hits in all four games. In a doubleheader sweep over Jones College on March 8, his two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning started East Central on a 7-6 come-from-behind win. In the second game of the doubleheader he was three-for-three at the plate.
On the season, Boydstun leads the Warriors in batting average (.460), hits (17), doubles (8), home runs (3), and RBI (22).
— Bill Wagnon
RAIN HITS LHS BASEBALL HARD
Mother nature had its way with Louisville’s baseball schedule last week as the Wildcats couldn’t get a game in due to field conditions and wet weather that just wouldn’t go away.
LHS (0-2) was scheduled to play two games on Monday at the Louisville Spring Break tournament against Morton and Neshoba Central and they’re also pushing for games on Tuesday against Pearl and Choctaw County at home.
The full week of baseball continues on Thursday as LHS finishes out spring break by traveling to Burnside Park in Philadelphia to take on the Tornadoes. Game times against Philadelphia will be at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
— Robbie Faulk
MHSAA HOOPS CHAMPS CROWNED
The Mississippi High School Activities Association crowned a dozen state basketball champions this week at Ole Miss. It was the first time that the state basketball championships were held on a college campus.
Girls winners were Pine Grove, Ripley, Calhoun City, Columbus, Senatobia and Olive Branch. Boys champs crowned were Ingomar, Coahoma Co., St. Andrews, Greenwood, Jackson Callaway and Starkville.
– Dale McKee
JACKSON/PERRY TAKE HONORS
For the third year in a row, Mississippi State has swept the 2020 C Spire Gillom and Howell Awards, presented to the best male and female collegiate basketball player in the state. Freshman Rickea Jackson and sophomore Reggie Perry received this year's awards.
MSU has swept the awards five times now, including last season when Teaira McCowan and Quinndary Weatherspoon received the trophies and in 2018 when Victoria Vivians and Weatherspoon won. State also swept the awards in 2009 and 2010 when Jarvis Varnado and Alexis Rack both went back-to-back.
Jackson, a Second Team All-SEC selection, extended the Bulldogs' streak of Gillom Award winners to six consecutive years after McCowan's selection last season and Vivians claiming the previous four trophies before that.
Perry, a SEC Player of the Year candidate, kept the Howell Trophy in Starkville for the third consecutive season which matches the program's longest streak accomplished by Jamont Gordon (2008) and Jarvis Varnado (2009-2010). Quinndary Weatherspoon (2018-2019) had won the previous two Howell Trophies for the Bulldogs.
— Josh Lively
NO BASEBALL FOR GCS
“Weather permitting” has become the operable term for spring sports in Mississippi this year.
It wasn't permitting for Grace Christian baseball last week, with games against Hebron Christian, Columbus Christian and Winona Christian wiped out by rain.
Coach Charlie Agnew said an attempt will be made to make up the games with Hebron Christian and Victory Christian. Winona Christian probably will not be rescheduled.
Following Spring Break, the Eagles will return to action with games Monday at Kemper Academy, Tuesday at New Summit in Jackson and Thursday at home against Victory Christian of Columbus.
— Laurence Hilliard
REBS ON A ROLL
Ole Miss baseball is off to its best season in 20 seasons under Mike Bianco. Ole Miss (14-1) entered the week with a 14-game winning streak, the longest since the 1964 team won 17 straight. That is also the school record for consecutive wins.
After a short two-day excursion to UL-Monroe, the Rebels return home to host LSU in their first SEC action of the season.
— Dale McKee
STATE’S GINN OUT
Mississippi State (9-4) will play a top 5 team in Texas Tech at Biloxi in a two-game series before returning home to host Arkansas in their SEC opener this weekend. The Bulldogs did get some bad news in that pitcher J.T. Ginn will miss the season as he will undergo Tommy John Surgery. For a little bit the Bulldogs will also be without last year’s leading hitter in Tanner Allen, who has a broken hand.
— Dale McKee
ECCC SWEEPS COAHOMA
The No. 15 ranked East Central Community College Lady Warriors opened MACJC Conference play with a couple of run-rule wins over the visiting Coahoma Lady Tigers Friday, March 6, at the Softball Park on the campus in Decatur.
The Lady Warriors overcame a slow start in the opener as sophomore Braelyn Boykin (Mize) pitched a one-hit shutout for the 8-0 win. East Central won the second game 18-0.
The Lady Warriors are now 10-4 on the season. Coahoma falls to 0-4
— Bill Wagnon
OLE MISS’ KEENAN HONORED
The train of Ole Miss Rebels in the Southeastern Conference weekly awards continued Monday as Tyler Keenan was named the SEC Co-Player of the Week, the fourth consecutive weekly honor for No. 8 Ole Miss baseball to start the season.
Keenan joins Cael Baker, Doug Nikhazy and Braden Forsyth as the fourth Rebel to earn a weekly honor this season. This marks the fourth SEC weekly honor of Keenan's career. He was named Player of the Week once and Freshman of the Week twice in 2018.
Keenan hit .438 for the week, including an even .500 in the Princeton series, amassing 12 RBIs and five runs scored thanks to three extra-base hits (two doubles, one home run).
The junior out of Clayton, North Carolina, doubled his RBI total for the season, giving him 24 on the year, good for first in the SEC and fifth in the nation. He currently leads the conference and is seventh in the country averaging 1.6 RBI per game.
He's now on a nine-game hitting streak and has driven in at least one run in each of the last five games. He has also reached base in all 15 games so far this season.
— School Reports
ECCC’s RICHARDSON SIGNS
East Central Community College sophomore midfielder Lia Richardson signs to continue her career next season at Louisiana State University at Alexandria. The LSU Alexandria Generals compete in the NAIA’s Red River Athletic Conference. Richardson of Huntingdon, United Kingdom , started 22 of 26 games during her two-year career at ECCC. She was named to play in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges All-Star Game following the fall 2019 season.
— Bill Wagnon
SEC TOURNEY BEGINS
The Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament was set to get under way on Wednesday at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena with a pair of games, ultimately culminating in Sunday’s championship game set for noon on ESPN.
The four teams receiving the coveted double-byes in the five-day, 14-day tournament were top-seeded Kentucky, along with Auburn, LSU, and Mississippi State.
The action was set to begin on the SEC Network on Wednesday with Ole Miss and Georgia tangling at 6 p.m. and Vanderbilt and Arkansas playing at 8 p.m. Ole Miss goes into the tourney with a 15-16 mark.
Thursday’s games begin at Noon with No. 8 seeded Tennessee and No. 9 seeded Alabama facing off, following by the contest between fifth-seeded Florida and the Georgia-Ole Miss winner. Thursday’s other games have Missouri and Texas A&M playing at 6 p.m. and sixth-seeded South Carolina facing the Vandy-Arkansas winner. All of Thursday’s games are on the SEC Network.
Friday’s action has top-seeded Kentucky facing the Tennessee-Alabama winner at noon, followed by the 20-11 Bulldogs of Mississippi State taking on the winner of Thursday’s game between No. 5 seeded Florida and the Georgia-Ole Miss winner.
The night games have Auburn playing the Missouri-Texas A&M winner at 6, following the LSU against playing the winner of Thursday’s match-up between South Carolina and the Vandy-Arkansas winner.
The semifinals are set for Noon and 2 p.m. on Saturday. All of the Friday, Saturday and Sunday games are set to be shown on ESPN.
— Austin Bishop
EMCC SOFTBALL DROPS TWO
East Mississippi Community College pitchers surrendered 10 home runs to third-ranked Jones College in dropping a 14-6, 15-4 softball doubleheader on the road during Friday’s MACJC conference-opening action played at Community Bank Park.
Coach Austin McNair’s EMCC Lady Lions (4-8, 0-2) step out of conference action next weekend (March 14-15) by playing road doubleheaders against Shelton State in Tuscaloosa on Saturday and at Coastal Alabama-North on Sunday in Monroeville.
— David Rosinski
NOMADIC BASEBALL TECHSTERS
Louisiana Tech baseball will play a home series at Smith Wills Stadium this weekend as the Bulldogs will host Middle Tennessee. Tech’s baseball stadium was destroyed last April, and the Bulldogs will have to play at different venues this spring. Meridian native Lane Burroughs, who played at Meridian Community College and Mississippi College and has been an assistant USM and MSU, is the head coach.
— Dale McKee
